Hey @Sooth!! Glad you got lots of questions, curiosity is a wonderful trait!! I'll do my best to help out if you like.
First off, as you can see I got my lil title of Peer Support Worker. Our PSWs are paid staff members who have their own lived experience of complex mental health, and we utilise this in providing peer support. PSWs also undertake moderation duties.
Moderators are staff members who are here to ensure the forums remain a safe space for everyone by ensuring posts are within guidelines, and that any members at risk are receiving sufficient care and support.
Lovely @MermaidHair is a Peer Guide - our Peer Guide program has just finished up, but was basically an opportunity for some formal volunteering experiences, along a similar vein to what our PSWs do. Really glad you're sticking around MermaidHair, hard to stay away isn't it? Hehe 😉
Our wonderful @Shaz51 is a Community Guide - a long-term member who is committed to keeping the forums alive. CGs are members who volunteer a bit of their time and energy to building the community, supporting other members, and stuff like that. We'd be nowhere without our Community Guides!!
I know it can all be a bit confusing!! One step at a time eh?
In terms of us finding stuff triggering - I think it has happened on occasion that a staff member will become triggered, but luckily we have an incredibly supportive team around us, always ensuring we get debriefs/supervision/free counselling if we need it. We're also trained in safe story-telling and in being able to know what aspect of our own lived experience we feel safe to share, and which aspects we might not bring to the table because it is still too emotionally charged.
Hope this helps to answer some of your questions!! Always happy to ramble on about the forums so please feel free to tag me if you wanna ask anything else! 😁